Today, the Kickstarter for Mindshaper (Spiralchain Book 2) goes online. Since many of our readers may not be familiar with Kickstarter, I wanted to share a little information about what it is and how it works.

Kickstarter is a way for people to get their amazing ideas out in the world. People pledge money to a project at specific levels (called tiers) in exchange for certain rewards. Every project has a goal, and if enough pledges come in to meet or exceed that goal, the project is funded.

No money is collected until the end of the Kickstarter campaign (30 days), and if the goal is not reached, no money is *ever* collected. This will be super disappointing for me. If that happens, we’ll have to have a new talk about how to handle pre-orders. I don’t want to do that, so don’t let it happen!

I am using Kickstarter to facilitate the preorders for the novel. You pledge at a tier that gives you the things you want, and then, assuming we hit the goal, your money is all collected at the end of the campaign (December 15th) and turned over to me. This allows me to order the books using your money instead of my money–the end result is the same to you, except that I don’t have to run the dangerous risk of emptying my savings to pay for the books while I wait for people to buy them from me.

To those of you that I personally know and interact with, you’ll notice the price of the book on Kickstarter is $5 higher than usual to account for shipping. If you want your book delivered in person instead (and you live in a place where I can make arrangements to visit you in the normal course of my life) I will refund $5 to you when I deliver the book(s). Sound fair?

If a lot of people pledge and we hit our goal, we will add “Stretch goals”– special rewards and perks that will be unlocked by pushing the total money raised past the initial goal. I have some great ideas for stretch goals, but right now they are going to remain secret.

There will be updates, unlocks, and new information throughout the 30 day campaign, so pledge early so that you can be notified with each update. But most importantly, don’t go crazy. I appreciate your support and I really look forward to you reading Mindshaper, but don’t pledge more than makes sense for you.

That being said, I hope you will pledge. If you already own Gatemaker, get a copy of Mindshaper. If you don’t own either, use this as a chance to get both. Look at the other goodies, the canvas art prints and your name in the book and the Kickstarter-exclusive bookmark and whatever else we unlock through goals, and decide how much of the Spiralchain experience you want to be a part of. No matter what you choose, I will appreciate the heck out of your support.

Please, please, please: Spread the word!

Click here to go to the Kickstarter!